Disc shaped container

ABSTRACT

A disc shaped container (2) comprising a body portion (4) and a lid (6) which is a press fit on the body portion (4); the body portion (4) having a base (8), a circumferential side wall (10) and a groove (12) in an outer face (14) of the side wall (10); the lid (6) having a top (16) and a circumferential side wall (18); the container (2) being such that the side wall (18) of the lid (6) overlaps the side wall (10) of the body portion (4) when the lid (6) is on the body portion (4); and the body portion (4) and the lid (6) both being made of a plastics material such that the side wall (18) of the lid (6) is pressable into the groove (12) in the outer face (14) of the side wall (10) of the body portion (4) in order to cause the lid (6) to separate from the body portion (4) with a sliding action.

This invention relates to a disc shaped container.

Disc shaped containers are well known. One extremely well known discshaped container is a shoe polish container which contains shoe polishfor different types of footwear, The known disc shaped containers maygenerally include any suitable and appropriate material so that, inaddition to shoe polish, the containers may contain polish for examplefor handbags or furniture, or cosmetic creams for example for faces orhands or hair gels, toothpaste powder or pharmaceuticals. In addition tobeing disc shaped, the known containers are constructed to be held in aperson's hand and they have a body portion and a lid. The lid is usuallya press fit on the body portion. The lid is usually removed from thebody portion by a twisting and pulling action or by rotating alid-engaging device which forces the lid away from the body portion.

The known disc shaped containers are traditionally made of metal andalthough the manufacture of the containers has been improved over theyears with advances in technology, the manufacture of the containers isstill not as easy as it might be, not only with regard to themanufacture of the containers but also with regard to the printing ofthe containers with appropriate advertising material and instructions.

It is an aim of the present invention to reduce the above mentionedproblem.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a disc shaped containercomprising a body portion and a lid which is a press fit onto the bodyportion; the body portion having a base, a circumferential side wallhaving an outer face with an annular groove forked in the outer face ofthe side wall, the groove having a pair of sides comprising a first sideadjacent the base and a second side away from the base, and the lidhaving a top and a circumferential side wall; the container being suchthat the lid side wall overlaps the body portion side wall when the lidis on the body portion; the body portion and the lid both being made ofa plastics material such that the lid side wall is pressable into saidgroove causing the lid side wall to engage said first side of the grooveas the side wall is pressed into the groove, in order to cause the lidto separate from the body portion with a sliding action; and the lid hasan inwardly projecting body portion-engaging part adjacent the top thatis engageable with the second side of said groove so that the lid ismaintained in its closed position; and the lid being capable of repeatedfitting to and separation from the body portion.

The use of a plastics material for producing the disc shaped containerof the present invention enables manufacturers to take advantage ofplastics moulding techniques which cannot be used when working in metalsuch as tin. The plastics material lends itself to being embossed toreceive appropriate advertising designs. The disc shaped container lendsitself to being printed and/or labelled, due to the ability of thecontainer to be produced with flat exterior surfaces for the lid top andside wall and for the base of the body portion. The printing may beeffected, for example, with pad printers for printing on the base of thebody portion and the top of the lid, and with rotary printers forprinting on the side walls of the lid and/or the body portion.

The disc shaped container of the present invention can be produced to bethe same size as existing disc shaped containers made of tin so thatthere is no need for manufacturers to change their packaging. The discshaped container of the present invention can also be made to look assimilar as possible to existing disc shaped containers made of tin, inorder to reduce any resistance of the general public to buying and usinga new type of disc shaped container.

The removal of the lid from the body portion is simply effected bypressing on the side wall of the lid. A person pressing on the side wallof the lid can feel the groove in the side wall of the body portion. Theuser of the disc shaped container always feels that the removal of thelid is being effected under their full control, which is often not thecase with disc shaped containers made of tin where a large separatingforce has to be applied and the lid suddenly comes away from the bodyportion, rather than in a controlled manner as occurs with the discshaped container of the present invention. With the disc shapedcontainer of the present invention, a simple press and release action onthe side wall of the lid may be employed in order to cause the bodyportion to separate from the lid and, for example, fall into one hand ofa person whilst their other hand retains hold of the lid.

Preferably, the container is one in which the first side of the grooveis a concave side.

When the container has the groove with the concave side, then thecontainer is preferably one in which the body portion has a formationwhich leads into the concave side of the groove and which acts tofacilitate an initial separating movement of the lid from the bodyportion, the formation being a convex formation.

The side wall of the lid may have a bead portion for sliding over theformation during the initial separating movement, the bead portion beingthicker than an adjacent part of the side wall of the lid. Such a lidconstruction enables a relatively thin side wall to be used, with thebead then helping to keep the lid in shape. In an alternativeconstruction, the side wall of the lid may have a radiused end remotefrom the cover, the radiused end being for sliding over the formationduring the initial separating movement. In this alternative formation ofthe lid, the side wall will usually be thicker than when a bead isemployed.

The container may be one in which the top and the side wall of the lidare of such a thickness that the lid is able to assume a slightelliptical shape when the side wall is pressed into the groove, therebyto reduce the contact area between the lid and the body portion andthereby to reduce the friction between the lid and the body portion andto facilitate removal of the lid from the body portion.

The container may be one in which the side wall of the body portion hasan inwardly inclined outer surface part at its end remote from the base,and in which the side wall of the lid has an inclined part between itstwo ends, the inwardly inclined outer surface part of the side wall ofthe body portion and the inclined part of the side wall of the lid beingsuch as to engage each other when the side wall of the lid is pressedfully into the groove, and to ensure that the lid is able to continuebeing slid away from the body portion when finger pressure pressing theside wall of the lid into the groove is released.

The container may be one in which the top of the lid has an inclinedshoulder part which is positioned adjacent an inner surface of the endof the side wall of the body portion remote from the base when thecontainer is closed, the inclined shoulder part being such as to act toforce any contents of the container that are on the end of the side wallof the body portion back into the body portion. Such an arrangement maybe especially useful for container contents such as boot polish which,during dispensation, will often get around the open end of the bodyportion.

The base of the body portion may have a plain inner surface. With knowndisc shaped containers made of, tin, especially those used for shoepolish, there are usually grooves on the inner surface of the base ofthe body portion and the shoe polish stays in these grooves. It isbelieved that users tend to retain the containers longer trying to getthe last bit of polish out of the grooves. With a plain inner surfacesit is believed that people will use up the contents of the containermore quickly than if the grooves are present. Naturally, if desired,then the base of the bottom portion may have a grooved inner surface.

The base of the body portion preferably has a single groove in its outersurface. This groove is able to enable the body portion to be mouldedwith a substantially even distribution of moulding material without theneed to employ a mould core. If desired, the lid may also be providedwith a grooved outer surface.

Preferably, the side wall of the body portion has an inner surface whichis provided with at least one circumferentially extending rib. This isto help to retain the contents of the container in the body portion inthe event that the contents should become dry and cracked. If desiredhowever, the side wall of the body portion may be plain or grooved onits inner surface.

The side wall of the lid may have a formation on its outer surface forindicating where the side wall of the lid should be pressed in order toopen a container. The formation may be a raised formation with adepression therein for receiving fingers and a thumb of a personsqueezing the lid.

The container may be one in which at least one of the lid and the bodyportion has a formation for preventing sealing of the body portion whenthe container is closed. This will then allow the contents of thecontainer to breath, for example as is traditional in the case of shoepolish where the metal disc shaped containers are usually provided witha pip/venting point to prevent sealing. The breathing is desirablebecause the shoe polish contains solvents.

The container may be one at least one of the lid-engaging part on thebody portion and the body portion-engaging part on the lid is providedwith the formation for preventing the sealing of the body portion whenthe container is closed. The formation is preferably a channel but itmay be some other type of formation such for example as knurling ifdesired. Generally, any suitable and appropriate formation may beemployed.

If desired, the container of the present invention may be one in whichthe lid seals the body portion when the container is closed. Generally,the decision whether or not to have the lid completely sealing the bodyportion will depend upon the type of material being stored in thecontainer. Generally, the disc shaped container of the present inventioncan contain any suitable and appropriate material, including thosematerials currently stored in similar disc shaped containers made ofmetal.

The container of the present invention will usually be such that the lidand the body portion are made of the same plastics materials. Differentplastics materials for the lid and the body portion may however beemployed if desired. A presently preferred plastics material for boththe lid and the body portion is polypropylene. Other plastics materialsmay be employed.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described solely by way ofexample and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a first disc shaped container in an opencondition;

FIG. 2 is a bottom view of a body portion of the container shown in FIG.1;

FIG. 3 is a side view of the body portion shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of part of the body portion shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a top view of a lid forming part of the container shown inFIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a side view of the lid shown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged view of part of the lid as shown in FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a side view, partially in section, of the container shown inFIG. 1 with the lid of FIG. 5 on the body portion of FIG. 2;

FIG. 9 is an enlarged sectional view of part of the disc shapedcontainer as shown in FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a view of arrow A shown in FIG. 7;

FIG. 11 is a top plan view of a body portion for a second disc shapedcontainer;

FIG. 12 is an enlarged view of the part which is circled in FIG. 11;

FIG. 13 is a side view of the body portion shown in FIG. 11; and

FIG. 14 is an enlarged view of the part which is circled in FIG. 13.

Referring to the drawings, there is shown a disc shaped container 2comprising a body portion 4 and a lid 6 which is a press fit on the bodyportion 4.

The body portion 4 has a base 8, a circumferential side wall 10 and agroove 12 in an outer face 14 of the side wall 10. The lid 6 has a top16 and a circumferential side wall 18.

The container 2 is such that the side wall 18 of the lid 6 overlaps theside wall 10 of the body portion 4 when the lid 6 is on the body portion4, as can best be seen in FIGS. 8 and 9. The body portion 4 and the lid6 are both made of a polypropylene plastics material and in thicknessessuch that the side wall 18 of the lid 6 is pressable into the groove 12in the outer face 14 of the side wall 10 of the body portion 4, in orderto cause the lid 6 to separate from the body portion 4 with a slidingaction.

As can best be seen from FIG. 9, the groove 12 is defined by a pair ofsides 20, 22. The side 20 is the side of the groove 12 nearest the base8. As can be seen, this side 20 is a concave side 20. This side 20engages the side wall 18 of the lid 6 and forces the lid 6 away from thebody portion 4 as the side wall 18 of the lid 6 is pressed into thegroove 12.

As can best be seen from FIG. 9, the body portion 4 has a formation 24which leads into the concave side 20 and which acts to facilitate aninitial separating movement of the lid 6 from the body portion 4. Theformation 24 is a convex formation as shown.

The side wall 18 of the lid 6 has a bead portion 26 for sliding over theformation 24 during the initial separating movement. The bead portion 26is thicker than an adjacent part 28 of the side wall 18 of the lid 6. Inan alternative embodiment of the invention (not shown), the adjacentpart 28 of the side wall 18 could be made thicker than is shown in FIG.9, in which case the bead portion 26 could be dispensed with and itcould be replaced by a curved end of the side wall 18.

The top 16 and the side wall 18 of the lid 6 are of such a thicknessthat the lid is able to assume a slight eliptical shape when the sidewall 18 is pressed into the groove 12. This enables a reduction of thecontact area between the lid 6 and the body portion 4. This in turnreduces friction between the lid 6 and the body portion 4 and thusfacilitates the removal of the lid 6 from the body portion 4. As the lid6 slides away from, the body portion 4, the contacting surface areabetween the lid 6 and the body portion 4 gets less and less so that thelid 6 moves easier and easier away from the body portion 4. A personopening the container 2 feels as though the lid 6 is being moved withgood control. A simple squeeze and release action with one hand on theside wall 18 of the lid 6 is sufficient to cause the body portion 4 todrop into the other hand.

The side wall 10 of the body portion 4 has an inwardly inclined outersurface part 30, see FIGS. 4 and 9. This outer surface part 30 is at theend of the side wall 10 remote from the base 8. The side wall 18 of thelid 6 has an inclined part 32 between its ends, see FIGS. 7 and 9. Theouter surface part 30 on the side wall 10 of the body portion 4 and theinclined part 32 on the side wall 18 of the lid 6 are such as to engageeach other when the side wall 18 of the lid 6 is pressed fully into thegroove 12. This engagement of the outer surface part 30 and the inclinedpart 32 ensures that the lid 6 is able to continue being slid away fromthe body portion 4 when finger pressure pressing the side wall 18 of thelid 6 into the groove 12 is released.

The top 16 of the lid 6 has an inclined shoulder part 34 as shown inFIGS. 6 and 7. This inclined shoulder part 34 is positioned adjacent aninner surface 36 of the end of the side wall 10 of the body portion 4remote from the base 8 when the container 2 is closed. The inclinedshoulder part 34 is such as to act to force any contents of thecontainer 2 that are on the end of the side wall 10 of the body portion4 back into the body portion 4.

As can best be seen in FIG. 4, the base 8 of the body portion 4 has aplain inner surface 38. The base 8 of the body portion 4 has a groovedouter surface containing a groove 40. The groove 40 is important from amanufacturing aspect since it enables the plastics material in theadjacent vicinity to be moulded in a substantially uniform thickness andwithout the need to use a mould collapsing core. If an alternativegroove were to be provided at position 41, then a mould collapsing corewould be needed and this would substantially double the cost of themould for moulding the body portion 4. It is necessary to have theplastics material of a uniform thickness so that, during moulding, evencooling is achieved. With too much uneven cooling, the moulded bodyportion 4 could develop moulding defects.

The lid 6 has a central recessed area 42. This area 42 may be grooved ifdesired.

The side wall 10 of the body portion 4 has an inner surface 44 which isprovided with two circumferentially extending ribs 43 as best shown inFIG. 4. The ribs 43 help to retain the contents of the container 2 inthe body portion 4 if the contents are shoe polish or a similar materialand the contents have started to harden, crack and have a tendency tofall out of the body portion 4. If desired, in an alternative embodimentof the invention (not shown) the inner surface 44 of the side wall 10could be plain.

The side wall 18 of the lid 6 may have a formation (not shown) on itsouter surface 46 for indicating where the side wall 18 of the lid 6should be pressed in order to open the container 2. The formation may bea raised formation with a depression therein for receiving fingers and athumb of a person squeezing the lid 6.

The lid 6 and/or the body portion 4 may have a formation (not shown) forpreventing sealing of the body portion 4 when the container 2 is closed.As can be seen from FIG. 9, the body portion 4 has a lid-engaging part48 which is positioned between the outer surface part 30 and the groove12. The lid 6 has an adjacent body portion-engaging part 50.

FIG. 9 shows the container closed. The part 50 projects inwardly asshown. During closing, the part 50 passes over the part 48 and slidesdown the side 22 into the groove 12. The lid 6 is then maintained in aclosed condition. The lid 6 is then released to open the container 2 bypressing on the side wall 18 as described above.

One or both of these parts 48, 50 may be provided with raised areas toact as the formation for preventing the sealing of the body portion 4when the container 2 is closed. As an alternative or supplement to theraised areas, a breathing channel 52 in the lid 6 (see FIG. 10) may beemployed, or any other suitable and appropriate type of formation may beemployed. It is desired to prevent the lid 6 sealing to the body portion4 when the contents of the container 2 are solvent based. If sealingoccurs, the solvent cannot escape and a build up of gaseous solvent maycause the lid 6 to pop off the body portion 4.

The container 2 is for containing shoe polish for shoes or otherfootwear. The shoe polish can be heated to 60° C. and then run into thebody portion 4, in a similar manner as known containers made of metalare filled. The temperature of 60° C. is not so high that it adverselycauses stresses in the polypropylene plastics material from which thebody portion 4 is moulded.

The body portion 4 and the lid 6 are produced in shapes which enablethem to be moulded such that unwanted stresses in the plastics materialare minimised. Unwanted stresses tend to occur when different parts ofthe container 2 expand or contract at different rates, and theillustrated shape for the body portion 4 and the lid 6 is intended tominimise such adverse stresses as far as possible.

As an alternative to using a hot feed gate on the outer surfaces of top16 of lid 6 and bottom 8 of base 4 in the tooling, as on conventionalplastics containers, the plastics material may be fed into the container2 moulds from an area inside the lid 6 and base 4, so that a residualpip which is formed when the feed hole is closed, is not normallyvisible when the container 2 is standing on a shelf or the like. Also,the pip will then be on a part of the container 2 that will not normallybe printed on. This is preferred because repeated printing over a numberof pips on a number of containers 2 may tend adversely to affect theprinting pad or roller being used.

The illustrated container 2 is for containing 50 ml of shoe polish. Thecontainer 2 may be made in any suitable and appropriate sizes but itwill usually be such as to contain from 40-10 ml of contents. If it is.desired to make the container 2 bigger than shown, it is easy toelongate the side wall 10 of the base 8 and the various above mentioneddesign features can all be retained. Alternatively or in addition, thediameter of the lid 6 and the base 4 can be widened up to a point wherethe container can still be comfortably opened in a person's hand. For afirm feel and quick and easy opening, when the container 2 is closed,the lid 6 and the base 4 should be such that the part 36 touches a part57 of the lid 6, the parts 48, 50 touch each other, and the parts 24, 26also touch each other.

Referring now to FIGS. 11-14, there is shown an alternative body portion4 in which similar parts as in previous Figures have been given the samereference numerals for ease of comparison and understanding. In FIGS.11-14, the part 54 shown in FIG. 4 is modified such that the bodyportion 4 has six raised portions 56. These raised portions 56 areprovided as high spots where the lid 6 and the body portion 4 meet whenthe container 2 is closed. The raised portions 56 are easily reduced inheight for initial mould production in order to ensure that the lid 6 isnot too tight a fit on the body portion 4. Also the raised portions 56reduce friction between the lid 6 and the body portion 4 to facilitateeasy opening.

It is to be appreciated that the embodiments of the invention describedabove with reference to the accompanying drawings have been given by wayof example only and that modifications may be effected. Thus, forexample, the illustrated container 2 has been described containing shoepolish. The container may however contain any other suitable andappropriate type of fluid material. Usually, the fluid material will besemi-solid or in the form of a gel. Also, the container 2 can be made ofplastics materials other than polypropylene. The chosen plasticsmaterial should be chemically inert to the intended contents of thecontainer 2. If desired, the container 2 or a part of the container 2,for example the base 8, can be made transparent or opaque so that thecontents of the container 2 can be seen.

I claim:
 1. A disc shaped container comprising a body portion and a lid which is a press fit onto the body portion; the body portion having a base, a circumferential side wall having an outer face with an annular groove formed in the outer face of the side wall, the groove having a pair of sides comprising a first side adjacent the base and a second side away from the base, and the lid having a top and a circumferential side wall; the container being such that the side wall overlaps the body portion side wall when the lid is on the body portion; the body portion and the lid both being made of a plastics material such that the lid side wall is pressable into said groove causing the lid side wall to engage said first side of the groove as the side wall is pressed into the groove, in order to cause the lid to separate, from the body portion with a sliding action; and the lid has an inwardly projecting body portion-engaging part adjacent the top that is engageable with the second side of said groove so that the lid is maintained in its closed position; and the lid being capable of repeated fitting to and separation from the body portion.
 2. A container according to claim 1 in which the first side of the groove is a concave side.
 3. A container according to claim 2 in which the body portion has a formation which leads into the concave side of the groove and which acts to facilitate an initial separating movement of the lid from the body portion, the formation being a convex formation.
 4. A container according to claim 3, in which the side wall of the lid has a bead portion for sliding over the formation during the initial separating movement of the lid from the body portion,-the formation being a convex formation.
 5. A container according to claim 1 in which the top and the side wall of the lid are of such a thickness that the lid is able to assume a slight elliptical shape when the side wall is pressed into the groove, thereby to reduce the contact area between the lid and the body portion and thereby to reduce the friction between the lid and the body portion and to facilitate removal of the lid from the body portion.
 6. A container according to claim 1 in which the side wall of the body portion has an inwardly inclined outer surface part at its end remote from the base, and in which the side wall of the lid has an inclined part between its two ends, the inwardly inclined outer surface part of the side wall of the body portion and the inclined part of the side wall of the lid being such as to engage each other when the side wall of the lid is pressed fully into the groove, and to ensure that the lid is able to continue being slid away from the body portion when finger pressure pressing the side wall of the lid into the groove is released.
 7. A container according to claim 1 in which the lid has an inclined shoulder part which is positioned adjacent an inner surface of the end of the side wall of the body portion remote from the base when the container is closed, the inclined shoulder part being such as to act to force any contents of the container that are on the end of the side wall of the body portion back into the body portion.
 8. A container according to claim 1 in which the side wall of the body portion has an inner surface which is provided with at least one circumferentially extending rib.
 9. A container according to claim 1 in which at least one of the lid and the body port-ion has a formation for preventing sealing of the body portion when the container is closed. 